Architecture of Italy

Italy has a very broad and diverse architectural style, which cannot be simply classified by period or region, due to Italy's division into several city-states until 1861. However, this has created a highly diverse and eclectic range in architectural designs. Italy is known for its considerable architectural achievements, such as the construction of arches, domes and similar structure during ancient Rome, the founding of the Renaissance architectural movement in the late-14th to 16th century, and being the homeland of Palladianism, a style of construction which inspired movements such as that of Neoclassical architecture, and influenced the designs which noblemen built their country houses all over the world, notably in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States of America during the late-17th to early 20th centuries. Several of the finest works in Western architecture, such as the Colosseum, the Duomo of Milan, the Mole Antonelliana in Turin, Florence cathedral and the building designs of Venice are found in Italy. Italy has an estimated total of 100,000 monuments of all varieties (museums, palaces, buildings, statues, churches, art galleries, villas, fountains, historic houses and archaeological remains). Now Italy is in the forefront of modernist and sustainable design with Architects like Renzo Piano and Carlo Mollino.

Italian architecture has also widely influenced the architecture of the world. Being inspired by Andrea Palladio. Additionally, Italianate architecture, popular abroad since the 19th century, was used to describe foreign architecture which was built in an Italian style, especially modelled on Renaissance architecture.

Along with pre-historic architecture, the first people in Italy to truly begin a sequence of designs were the Greeks and the Etruscans. In Northern and Central Italy, it was the Etruscans who led the way in architecture in that time. Etruscan buildings were made from brick and wood, thus few Etruscan architectural sites are now in evidence in Italy, with the exception of a few in Volterra, Tuscany. The Etruscans strongly influenced Roman architecture, as they too used to build temples, fora, public streets and aqueducts. The heavy pillars and porches created by the Etruscans, and their city gates were also a significant influence on Roman architecture.

...
Wikipedia